Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving had the answers in the first test for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.
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Anthony scored 31 points – and the Americans needed every one of them – as the overwhelming gold-medal favorites in the Rio Games outlasted Australia 98-88 on Wednesday night.
“Just play basketball. I was in the zone, I was playing basketball”. “My teammates found me when I was open”. “His mind-set is to shoot the ball and he has a lot of confidence”.
They’re out: Defending champion Mexico was eliminated from the men’s soccer tournament after 1-0 loss to South Korea.
Canberra basketballer Patty Mills would have preferred to beat Team USA for his birthday present, but he is closing in on another personal milestone at the Rio Olympic Games. Still they continued to battle, and the lead stayed within four for most of the remainder of the game, no matter who was on the floor for the Boomers.
“We’re a bit disappointed”.
“Being from Australia, we are not intimidated by anyone”, forward Joe Ingles said. “We knew it was going to come down to the end of the game where we’d have to buckle down and make plays down the stretch”. “The second is that they’re not invincible because we had a close game”. That’s an attitude change. “We have a different feeling now and we want to keep that going”. “He’s special. We don’t get this without him”. It was kind of fun watching the United States play under pressure, and see them work more as a team. But he can claim an NCAA title over his Banana Boat buddies, the Olympic scoring record and perhaps four gold medals after these Games.
The one exception to Team USA’s poor shooting was Carmelo Anthony, who passed David Robinson as the all-time scorer for Team USA with a 14-point first quarter.
A 10-2 United States run in response featured eight points from Anthony and produced an 80-74 edge.
“Melo initiated it to put this game away”, George said.
“The best thing is, we won”.
With a lineup of National Basketball Association all-stars and MVPs bidding for a third straight gold medal, the US might have expected little trouble from the 11th-ranked Australians, who have never set foot on the Olympic podium.
Mills finished with 30 points and Bogut added 15 points, while Dellavedova had 11 points plus 11 assists and six rebounds.
“This is the real world now”, Krzyzewski said.
It was a physical contest, with Jordan getting a technical foul, Kyle Lowry picking up an unsportsmanlike one and Draymond Green tripping Mills as he accelerated for a fast break hoop.
“There were only two possible scenarios after the first half tonight”, Colangelo said.
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The Boomers continued their solid shooting percentage for the tournament to date, a result of Solid offensive structures and excellent shot selection, going at a healthy 68 per cent in the first half compared to the US’ 37.
